


Cultivating a Forest

by OtterlyDeerlightful



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Bullying, Car problems, Deceased Family, Glanni is doing his best, M/M, Raising Kids Is Hard, Single Dads AU, Single Parents, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, bad life choices, reality sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-08-22 20:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16604636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtterlyDeerlightful/pseuds/OtterlyDeerlightful
Summary: Glanni wants to do right by his son. He just doesn't know how. He and Robbie are barely scraping by with no foreseeable improvement in their situation. In the midst of his daily madness, Glanni slowly becomes aware of the reoccurring presence of a pretty face with blue eyes and a silly mustache. But, as much as he would love to see more of Íþrótta, he just can't bring himself to deviate from the path he worked so hard to travel. He and Robbie can make it on their own, after all. He's just not sure how to do it.





	1. Kafli Einn

**Author's Note:**

> I know. I know i need to finish so many projects already. I'm sorry! My brain is being dumb!!

The shrieking hell of his alarm clock had jabbed into his temple a little _too_ sharply that morning. He had gone through the same song and dance a few times already, but that didn’t mean that today would be any easier on either of them. Ah, the first day of the new school year. Somehow so new, filled with promise and potential…and yet always filled with the same old stress and apprehension as always.

Glanni reached out from under his blanket and groped around for the dismissal button of his alarm clock, the old and rickety device whistling out its too-tinny tune as it mocked his pain. Oh, it was only day one and he was _not_ looking forward to the rest of the week. Whose idea had it been to start the first week of school on a Monday? It didn’t do anything but make the week feel longer for students and parents alike. Glanni groaned and opened his eyes, letting them relearn how to focus for a moment before moving any further.

Well, time for the fun to begin.

The tired man brushed a hand through his dark hair on his way across the room, where he readied the old coffee pot for what would probably be the only thing that would get him through the day. After pulling out some bowls, milk, and spoons, Glanni wandered away from the counter and accompanying folding table to the door nearby.

_Knock ~ knock_

No immediate answer.

“Gummy bear?”

More silence. Glanni sighed and turned the knob, edging the door open. The room was still fairly dark, its only high window covered by an old curtain that had once been a vibrant purple, now barely more than a pale violet. Below it rested a twin-sized bed and, on top, a breathing pile of blankets that hid his son from view.

“Robbie, sweetie. It’s time to get up.”

The boy gave a soft grumble at the sound of his father’s voice and the blanket curled in on itself like a snail trying to find refuge inside its protective shell. Glanni sighed and crossed the room that was, strictly speaking, a little too small to be a proper bedroom. It had once been some sort of maintenance room, but some smooth talking with their landlord had allowed Glanni to keep the rate of an efficiency apartment rather than a one-bedroom unit. His boy got to keep some semblance of privacy, and he got to save a few dollars every month; as far as Glanni was concerned, it was the perfect arrangement. At least until Robbie hit his next growth spurt, but they would just have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

“Robbie,” he insisted with a gentle shake of the boy’s thoroughly padded shoulder. “Lollipop, you gotta wake up. It’s time for breakfast.”

“ _Why_?” came the soft whine from somewhere deep inside the nest.

Glanni perched on the edge of the small bed. “Because it’s the first day of school, Cupcake. Come on, we can’t have you being late for your first day.”

Robbie groaned again, but at least allowed his father to pull down the sheets to reveal his similarly dark mop of hair. The boy squinted up at his father, his young face ripe with betrayal as he seemed to realize that, no, Glanni wasn’t about to let him sleep in and pretend that school didn’t actually exist.

“What cereal do you want?”

Robbie gave another pathetic moan as he rolled over. “Do we h-h-have the marshmallowy one still?” he questioned through an overly dramatic yawn.

“You bet we do. You get dressed and come on out in the next five minutes and you can have extra.”

Robbie sat up, eyes still unfocused and full of sleep. Glanni ruffled the boy’s hair and kissed his forehead. Based on his lack of movement, the man couldn’t he sure if the boy even registered his touch this early in the morning. He gave the child’s temple another quick kiss for added encouragement.

“You come on out when you’re ready, okay? You were gonna wear your favorite shirt today, right?”

Robbie gave a slight nod.

“Then I’ll have that cereal ready for you.”

Another sleepy nod.

“Good boy.” Glanni got up from the bed and stretched, listening to something in his shoulders pop as he did. “I’ll see you in a minute, okay?”

The man headed back out to the main room, knowing he was now working within a very limited time frame. He headed to the small bathroom at the opposite end of the their tiny apartment to quickly take care of his morning necessities, then emerged just in time for Robbie to come sprinting out of the bedroom to take care of his own requirements.

Glanni poured himself his coffee and sat down at the table with a box of cereal swiped from the top of the refrigerator. He set it down in anticipation of his son’s arrival and started to sip the hot beverage in his hands. His face scrunched into an old prune the moment it touched his tongue.

“Oh God this stuff’s horrible,” he hoarsely grumbled to himself as he stared down into the sludge-looking liquid before him. Glanni shuddered at the aftertaste and went in for another sip. “Guess it’s time to change the coffee grounds tomorrow or something.”

He looked up when Robbie emerged from the bathroom. The little boy still looked tired with dark circles under his eyes, made all the more prominent by the pale grey shadows of his irises. Despite his exhaustion, though, Robbie reached out for his cereal the moment his bottom hit the folding chair beneath him. Glanni quietly admired the boy’s resolute focus on his sugary prize; the adorable scene of Robbie pouring himself a bowl of his favorite cereal after a minimal fight to get him out of bed was more than enough to bring a small smile to the man’s otherwise coffee-puckered lips.

“So, big day,” Glanni said, speaking slowly to try and stave off a yawn he could feel trying to come on. “What grade are you in this year? Ten? Twelve?”

Robbie gave his father an unamused look. “I’m in _third_ , Daddy!”

Glanni let his eyebrows shoot up in faux surprise. “Third, wow!”

Robbie rolled his eyes—his whole head, really—as he chewed his first spoonful of cereal. He had swallowed almost all of it before he started speaking again, only spraying the table with a few marshmallow bits instead of all of them.

“You know I’m in third grade, Daddy. They sent you a list of the stuff I needed and everything!”

Glanni pretended to look surprised. “Oh, is _that_ why we had to buy all that nonsense? No wonder I have no money left!”

He hated how painfully close to the truth that joke actually was, and he took another sip of whatever the nastiness in his mug that was pretending to be coffee to cover up his disappointment in reality. Robbie, meanwhile, giggled at his father’s silliness.

“You finish up breakfast,” Glanni instructed. “I’ll be right back.”

Robbie nodded and continued to dig into his mountain of sweet cereal. Glanni, meanwhile, abandoned what was left of his so-called coffee in the kitchen sink. He wandered over to the set of plastic organizational drawers near his mattress, pulled out some clothes for the day, and dragged himself to the bathroom.

The bedswept man that stared out at him from the mirror looked absolutely hideous and Glanni hated it. His eyes fell to the makeup bag shoved to the corner of the small countertop and sighed. What he wouldn’t give to be able to wear what he liked to work, feel more complete, more like himself…less like the faceless, nameless cog in the corporate machine that tried to crush him between its gears day in and day out. Instead, he reached for the razor sticking out of the tarnished old cup by the equally rusty-looking faucet and set to work shaving.

“Dad, where’s my lunch?” Robbie called about a minute later.

“Shit.”

Glanni finished up as quickly as he could without slitting his own throat. He called out to his son that he would get it in a minute, wishing he could kick himself for not taking care of such an important detail first thing after waking up. He all but tumbled out of the bathroom, fingers still fumbling with the buttons on his pants as he went.

“Sorry, kiddo. I’ll get right on that. Uh…what do you want?”

Robbie looked up from where he was lazily shoving folders and notebooks in his old backpack. The boy shrugged, though his face looked thoughtful for a moment. “Can I have tuna?”

Glanni opened the refrigerator and glanced over the contents therein. Some juice, soda, a few snack packs, pasta leftovers from two days ago, two sticks of butter, some jelly, a package of hot dogs, and a bunch of half-filled condiment bottles. Well, damn. He closed the door and went to the cupboard instead. Well, there was bread, at least, and some cookies, too, but that was mostly it. Some boxes of instant rice, ramen packets, and a half-finished jar of peanut butter was all that was let there. Well, at least it was _something_ to work with.

“No tuna, Gumdrop, but how about some PB&J?”

Robbie gave a small shrug. “Okay,” he mumbled.

Glanni felt a small sting in his chest as he grabbed everything and quickly made the boy a sandwich. He pulled out some small plastic bags to protect his son’s sandwich and a couple of cookies before dropping them lightly in a brown paper bag taken from the same small cabinet. He leaned over to fish around in the old coffee canister sitting near the sink where he kept any and all loose change he could find. Glanni counted out the coins and dropped them inside the bag as well so little Robbie could have some milk with the rest of his meal later in the day.

“You ready, Robbo?” he called over his shoulder.

A dejected “no” drifted over from where the boy sat by the door, staring at his shoes and playing with the handle of his patched-up backpack. Glanni looked over and sighed. He picked up the boy’s lunch and walked over, sitting on the bottom step with the child. Robbie scooted away to give his father some more sitting room, but didn’t look up from the patch of carpet he was staring at.

“What’s wrong?” the man asked quietly.

“I don’t wanna go back to school,” Robbie grumbled. “Can’t Bessie watch me instead?”

“She can’t watch you _all_ the time, Cookie.”

“Sure she can! She says I’m a del-pipe!” the boy cried, finally looking up at his father with large eyes.

Glanni chuckled. “I think she probably meant _delight_ , and she’s right—you’re the best kid in the whole wide world—but she has a job, too, Robbie.”

“Can I go to work with you instead, then?”

Glanni sighed. “Gummy bear…you know you can’t always do that.”

“Why not? I’m good, right?”

“You’re the best,” Glanni agreed as he wrapped an arm around his boy and pulled him close to his side. “But we bend the rules a lot as it is.”

The boy looked down again, dejected by his father’s response.

“Why don’t you want to go to school?”

“I hate it.”

Glanni kissed the top of Robbie’s head before running his fingers through it, trying to supplement the boy’s lackluster job at brushing it straight earlier. Part of him felt guilty for not having more of a hand in preparing his child for school, but Robbie had insisted since last year that he could do it himself, and who was Glanni to steal away what little independence and confidence the boy had, even if he was still learning?

“Why do you hate it?”

“It’s boring! And I don’t like it! And…and the other kids don’t like me.”

Glanni swallowed. Robbie was a good boy. Shy, a little quirky, but a good boy. Truth be told, Glanni knew that couldn’t have asked for a better child. Robbie was sweet, creative, and, as much as he pretended he was as strong and mature as one could be at his age, the boy was nothing but a big softie who just wanted to be loved. Which was why it broke Glanni’s heart that the poor boy struggled so much trying to make friends. Robbie _wanted_ to be friends with the other children; he just never seemed to be able to figure out how to connect with them. Glanni himself was no stranger to that problem, but he had grown used to being a loner; Robbie, though, still needed companionship outside of his family.

“Well,” Glanni said slowly. “Maybe this year will be different. You’ve grown up a _lot_ over the summer, and maybe this year they’ll teach some things you really like. Every year’s different…and I think this one might be the best one yet.”

Robbie shrugged. “What if it’s not?”

“What if it _is_?”

The boy didn’t seem to have an immediate response to that. He looked up at Glanni with a downturned face of uncertainty that broke the man’s heart.

“It’ll be okay, Pudding pop,” Glanni said softly. “I promise things’ll get better, okay?”

Robbie, after a second, slowly nodded, the movement so slow and forced one might think Glanni was holding a gun to his head to elicit the reaction from the boy.

“Okay, Daddy.”

Glanni kissed his boy’s temple. “Let’s get these shoes on, then. I don’t think your new teacher would like it very much if I sent you to school in nothing but socks, huh?”

“Maybe she wouldn’t mind?” Robbie ventured with a hesitantly silly smile.

“You can ask them once you get there, how about that?” Glanni asked playfully as he pulled both their shoes over to get ready. “Wanna race?”

Robbie suddenly seemed to have a renewed interest in getting ready for school. He nodded his head vigorously and grabbed for his shoes. They set everything in place, eyes locked on one another in anticipation. Glanni slowly grinned, hunching over and wiggling his fingers as he got ready. He watched in amusement as his boy mimicked his actions. Robbie licked his lips.

“And… _go_!” Glanni whispered sharply.

He watched Robbie snatch up his first sneaker and start to pull it on as quickly as possible. The man smiled and followed suit, pretending to struggle to keep up with the boy. He finished tying his first shoe just as Robbie threw his hands into the air and let out a yell of triumph. Glanni groaned and finished tying his laces.

“I just can’t beat you, Robbie. You’re getting too fast for me.” He smiled hearing the boy giggle. “Maybe I’m just getting too old! My hair’s gonna be white by the time you get home today.”

Robbie giggled and Glanni patted the boy gently on the back.

“Let’s get going.”

Glanni grabbed his wallet, phone, and keys, then ushered Robbie up the stairs. He locked their front door before following the boy up the stairs leading from their basement apartment to the street above. Robbie wandered to the car, an old rickety thing of mismatched paint that looked like it may seen a few too many thousand miles in its long time on this earth. Glanni came up alongside the boy, unlocking the passenger’s side door for him, before going around and letting himself in, too.

“Seat belt?”

“Done.”

“Okay, then.” Their safety check complete, Glanni turned the key in the ignition and waited for the engine to turn over as the poor vehicle struggled to churn to life. He smiled to himself and winked at his son once the loud, familiar hum met their ears. “See? Told you it would be a good day. Got it on the first try.”

Robbie offered a smile and they were off.

It wasn’t a far drive to the elementary school from where they lived, for which Glanni was forever grateful on days where it was a much bigger struggle to get little Robbie to part with his pillow, and they reached the building just as the rest of the parental body of the community were beginning to converge upon the grounds. Glanni pulled up to the curb and parked. The man looked over at his son, who had been mysteriously quiet as they approached the school.

“Sweetie?” he asked gently. “You okay?”

Robbie startled slightly at the sound of the man’s voice, but quickly turned and nodded. “Y-yeah. I just…” He glanced out the window briefly. “Do I _have_ to go?”

Glanni suppressed a disheartened sigh and nodded. “Afraid so, buddy. It’ll be okay, though. And I’ll see you after school either way, okay? “

“Okay,” Robbie mumbled before unhooking his seat belt and reaching for the door handle.

“Hey.”

The boy turned back to look at him.

“Come here, Snickerdoodle,” Glanni said fondly as he leaned over to give the boy a warm hug.

Robbie leaned into it, squeezing his father as best as he could with his small hands and short arms.

“I love you, okay? Remember that.”

“I know,” Robbie moaned automatically, though the strength of his embrace didn’t waver in the slightest. After a second, he added. “I love you, too, Daddy.”

Glanni brushed back the boy’s hair one more time as they parted.

“You go show that school that Stefánson men are a force to be reckoned with, then,” Glanni encouraged.

Robbie gave a small smile and finally opened the car door. He hopped outside before reaching back in to pull his bulging backpack out with him. He bade his father one more good-bye for the day and pushed the old, heavy car door closed. Glanni stayed where he was, watching the little boy toddle from the car up the walk to the front doors of the school with all of the other children. Robbie looked so small, yet so big as he disappeared inside the building.

“Third grade,” he said softly to himself as he started the car and let it sit and rattle for a moment before evening itself out. “Good God.”

Careful of the crowds bustling about, Glanni pulled away from the curb. With Robbie taken care of, his own day could begin. He turned onto the highway and sped down toward the mall. Glanni’s eyes darted back and forth from the road to the digital clock on the dashboard. Seven forty-five? How was it already seven forty-five? He hadn’t been parked for _that_ long, had he? He reached his exit and hurried toward the familiar parking lot entrance he knew to be just down the street.

Glanni parked, snatched his nametag and phone out of the cupholder, and mad a dash for the employee entrance to his store. Still adjusting his nametag as he climbed the stairs, Glanni grabbed the nearest cash register to clock in for his shift. Two minutes to spare…made it. The man let out a sigh of relief and headed for the employee lockers to stash his personal items for the day.

*****

“Where are your men’s sweaters?”

“What do you mean it’s expired?”

“Do you have this in an extra small?”

“No, no, I want to speak to your manager.”

Glanni handed another customer their bag and watched them start for the store exit. He let out a yawn and left the register to try and make some headway—any headway, really—on the obliterated display of seasonal styles that sat across from his station. His supervisor had gotten on his ass about what a disaster his area had been earlier and he’d rather not repeat the verbal lashing. It wasn’t like they could have offered him a hand or anything, particularly with how long his line had been at the time. No, that would make too much sense, he decided; there was no place for logic or support when working in retail.

 It had only been three minutes before said supervisor decided to stop by again.

“Where have you been?”

Glanni blinked, briefly wondering if the stout, white-haired man was being sarcastic. “…Here. Why?”

The sour man wrinkled his nose. Glanni was sure that the guy had no idea he had such an obvious tell, but it was clear as day that whenever that foul snout of his wrinkled like that, you were not going to be on the receiving end of good news.

“I’m _sure_ you were. That’s probably why we just had a pair of women over at Halla’s register complaining about not being able to find anyone in _this_ department when they needed help.”

Glanni stared at the man as he tried to come up with an acceptable response. He _had_ seen two women about a minute and a half ago. They had been chatting with one another about some inane television show and walked by every display without so much as a glance. How we he supposed to know they wanted an attendant when they hadn’t so much as glanced at their surroundings? No doubt he would currently be being yelled at for interrupting their conversation had he looked up from his oh-so-hidden position in front of the department’s main display so he could be the fifteenth employee to welcome them to the store. But, no, he couldn’t say any of that. Logic…retail.

“You need to be _available_ when customers need you, Glanni! Not prancing around the store like it’s your playground. You have to be visible and….”

Glanni began to tune out his supervisor’s words for sanity’s sake. He clutched the autumn-patterned sweater in his hands as tightly as he could without tearing the fabric. He stared straight at his supervisor, expression unreadable as the little rat carried on with his little superiority complex. In an attempt to simultaneously calm and distract himself, Glanni grit his teeth and curled his toes inside his shoes.

“…understand?”

“Yes, Haninn.”

“Good.” Satisfied, the grubby little man turned to leave so he could harass some other poor employee for their imagined inadequacies. “And clean up around here! Your department is a _mess_ , Glanni. It’s your responsibility to make sure it’s presentable.”

He glared a hole into the back of the other man’s head. “ _Yes_ , Haninn.”

Once his supervisor was out of sight, Glanni let out a frustrated grunt and threw the sweater back onto the half-cleaned display table. He stood there for a moment, just staring at it with its stupid little leaf patterns. He hated that little chicken shit. He wasn’t even sure if _Haninn_ was the man’s first or last name anymore and, frankly, Glanni didn’t care. The jerk was a blight on society and if Glanni could still tap some of his old connections, he could make sure that asshole would pay for—

Glanni closed his eyes and let out a long, slow breath. He couldn’t think like that. Not anymore. He would just have to deal with his problems the _mundane_ way. With a sigh of defeat, he picked up the sweater, folded it carefully, and set it back in its proper place on the table with the rest of its companions.

“Excuse me, do you work here?” a timid voice asked from somewhere behind him.

Glanni put on his Retail Face and turned to greet his new customer.

*****

A few hours later, Glanni pulled up outside of the elementary school once again. He was tired, a little sweaty after carrying armfuls of fall and winter clothing all day, and starving. The man leaned over the passenger seat to catch a glimpse of the children as their teachers released them. His Robbie was one of the first to emerge. Glanni couldn’t help but smile seeing his little boy make a beeline for his car like it was an oasis in a desert. He reached over to unlock the door for him and sat back to wait.

“Hey, Jelly bean!” Glanni greeted when Robbie pulled the door open and tossed his bag inside. “So, news report—how was your first day in Third Grade?”

Robbie scrambled into the passenger seat and shrugged. “It was okay,” he mumbled, reaching for the seat belt to buckle in.

“Just okay?”

“Yeah.”

“How was your teacher?”

“She was nice.”

Glanni suppressed a groan. The moody non-answers were supposed to be a teenage thing, not an eight-year-old thing. He wet his lips and renewed his smile. “Anything fun happen? Tell me about your day, I’m dying to know, kiddo!”

Robbie shrugged. “It was oaky. There’s a new kid in class. He’s weird.”

“Weird, huh? Sounds interesting. Keep an eye on him; maybe he’s an alien.”

That, at least, got a small smile from the boy. Glanni put the car in drive and started for home.

“What’s for dinner, Daddy?”

Oh, right. Food. Glanni ran through a mental list of what he could remember from their kitchen that morning. There…really wasn’t much to pick from as far as he could tell.

“How does…ramen and hot dogs sound?”

Robbie made an unsatisfied grunt. Glanni held his tongue from giving a frustrated retort.

“How about that tuna you wanted? Should we try that?”

“Okay.”

Well, it wasn’t quite grocery day, but a can or two of tuna fish shouldn’t be too bad. One glance at the fuel gauge on the dashboard, though, and he knew that stupid fish might _actually_ cost him something. Okay, new plan.

“You got any homework, kiddo?”

He could see Robbie scrunch his little nose out of the corner of his eye; the answer was obvious before the boy even opened his mouth.

“Yes.”

“Wow, on the first day, even! Well, then you can get that done once we get home, how about that? You’ll be totally free by dinnertime.”

Robbie grumbled and rested his forehead against the car window. Glanni’s shoulders dropped and the conversation came to an abrupt end. He realized as he pulled into the makeshift parking lot created on their home property that this was, again, only the _first_ day of the new school year. Oh, joy.

Robbie was already out of the car and halfway down the stairs to the basement before Glanni had turned the vehicle off. He groaned, leaning over and grabbing the child’s backpack from the floor of the passenger’s seat before pulling the key from the ignition and starting after him. Robbie made no motion to relieve his father of the bag, instead only waiting until Glanni unlocked the door so he could rush inside and leave him standing there. Trailing behind his son, Glanni set the boy’s bag down on the edge of the mattress sitting in the middle of what was their living room.

“Robbie!”

There was a muffled reply from the bathroom.

“You get started on your homework, okay? I’ll be right back. Don’t open the door for anyone, not even Ms. Stímalína, okay? Someone tries to come in, go in your room—”

“And lock the door. I know, Daddy.”

“Good.” Glanni gestured to the bed. “No TV until homework’s done, okay?”

Robbie looked dejected at the news, but nodded.

“I’ll be right back, Lollipop.”

“Ok _ay_ ,” Robbie whined. “Just go!”

“Okay, okay. You win!” he laughed.

Glanni rolled his eyes and headed out the door, locking it behind him. He bypassed the car and headed down the street, keeping his stride as wide as possible to cover more ground. The store wasn’t very far, but he didn’t want to risk something getting in the way of dinner if he lingered at home for too long. As much as he just wanted to lay down, rest up, and empty that bottle of soda sitting in the fridge, little Robbie deserved an actual dinner, especially after the first day of school.

As Glanni walked, he pulled out his wallet to assess what ammunition he had to work with. Which, as it turned out, was not much. There were a few bills, some spare quarters and dimes, and one banking card that Glanni knew was barely worth the plastic it was made from. He longed for his upcoming payday, though he knew damn well that that money was already designated for next month’s rent and utility bill. He would have to figure something out.

“Hey, man. Spare some change?”

Glanni looked up.

“My car ran out of gas up a ways and I just need a couple bucks to fill up so I can get home. Please?”

The man, if he was old enough for Glanni to call him that, was wearing a dark sweatshirt with the hood up, and torn jeans. He had both hands shoved into his front pocket and wore a hopeful smile that didn’t quite reach his slightly-too-wide eyes. He smelled foul.

“I don’t have anything to spare,” Glanni responded as he moved to tuck his wallet away, mentally chiding himself for having it out in public in the first place, especially with the street as bare as it was. “Sorry.”

“You gotta have _something_ , man. Please?” the stranger asked again.

Glanni narrowed his hands, still slowly moving forward. “ _Sorry_. I don’t have anything,” he repeated.

“Look, man,” the young man snapped, his hands suddenly pulled from his hoodie to reveal the gun he had been poorly concealing. “Just gimme the money, okay?”

Glanni finally stopped walking, but didn’t give any external cues that he felt at all threatened by the display. His expression never changed as he met the petty criminal’s gaze. It was hard not to notice how the stranger’s hands were slightly shaking.

“I told you,” Glanni said slowly, in an even tone, “I don’t have anything for you. I suggest you try to find your money elsewhere.”

“What are you, stupid? Hand over your wallet, asshole!”

“No.”

“Seriously? I’m _mugging_ you, you dumb shit.”

Glanni cocked an eyebrow at that. “Is that what this is supposed to be? Well, then—” He raised his hands in a faux display of surrender.

“Think you’re a smartass?” the young man asked, gaining resolve the more Glanni’s existence apparently insulted his youthful bravado. “How about this?” He cocked the gun and pointed it straight at Glanni’s face. “Gimme your wallet.”

Glanni sighed, eyelids fluttering slightly in an attempt to hide the eyeroll beneath. “Fine. Would you like to reach for it, or can I do that myself?”

“Give it. No funny business.”

Glanni shrugged and, keeping his left hand raised, reached back down to retrieve his wallet again. The mugger’s eyes followed his hand’s every movement and he licked his chapped lips in anticipation of his prize. Glanni, too, was watching his opponent’s movements closely. The wallet emerged. Glanni held it out as far as he dared, still keeping his arms relatively tight to his body. The kid reached for it with his free hand.

In an instant, the wallet dropped to the ground. Glanni grabbed the youth’s outstretched wrist as he dodged to the side, his previously raised hand pushing the mugger’s weapon in the opposite direction. A deafening _pop_ erupted from the barrel as the gun was fired. Glanni pushed the startle idiot’s arms apart and kicked as hard as he could, the punk doubling over in agony. Calmly, Glanni squeezed his assailant’s hand hard enough to make them drop their weapon. He kneed the mugger in the head and shoved him back onto the pavement. While the would-be thief writhed in pain,  Glanni picked up and repocketed his wallet.

“If I see you in this neighborhood again, you’re going to have more than sore wrists and a bloody nose, understand?” he asked calmly.

“What the fu—”

The young man’s words were cut short by a squeak of pain when Glanni stepped forward, taking a stance on their crotch. The ripe-smelling youth looked up with wide eyes as he watched Glanni calmly pull out and flick open a pocket knife.

“Do you understand?” Glanni asked again, leaning closer, pressing down.

The man yelped incoherently.

“ _Never_ try anything like this in my neighborhood again. Children live here. Got it?”

The failed mugger nodded frantically.

“I know your face,” Glanni bade as he finally took a step back to allow the idiot to scramble away to parts unknown.

He glanced down at the abandoned gun while pocketing his knife. Not daring to touch the weapon with his bare hands, he instead opted to kick it into the street. From there, Glanni kicked it once more, this time into the nearest storm drain. There, problem solved. He shoved his hands back into his pockets and resumed his walk to the store.

*****

“Hope you’re still in a tuna mood!” Glanni announced as he walked through the door a while later.

Robbie looked up sharply from the laptop screen he had been staring at, faint voices still coming from the device’s speakers. The boy sat in the middle of Glanni’s bed surrounded by his backpack, various papers, and a couple of pencils. His eyes were wide, his body rigid enough for one to think he was staring down the gullet of an angry tiger. Glanni groaned and tossed the pair of tuna fish cans on the counter beside him.

“ _Robbie_.”

The boy shut the laptop and pushed it away.

“What did I tell you before I left?”

The boy shrank down, looking like he was trying to hide between his own shoulders.

“Robbie.” Glanni frowned.

“N-not to let anyone in?” the boy ventured in a tiny voice while trying to force a smile to his face.

“And?”

The boy’s eyes fell.

“ _And_?”

“Do my homework.”

Glanni nodded. “And did you finish all your homework before you started watching TV?”

“…No,” the boy mumbled guiltily.

“Get back to work and don’t touch that laptop again. You hear me?”

Robbie nodded and reached out for the nearest piece of paper, dragging it over to him silently. Glanni grumbled lightly and crossed the room, picking up his computer and returning it to the end table where its charging cord lay waiting.

“How much homework you got, anyway?” he asked absently.

“A lot,” came Robbie’s dejected answer.

“How much is a lot?”

The boy looked exasperated as started grabbing up sheets of paper. “I have to color this! And write out this! And _then_ I have to do this _whole_ sheet!” Robbie whined, eyes large and pathetically desperate for sympathy as he held up each worksheet in turn.

Glanni gave a low whistle. “Wow, that _is_ a lot. Good thing you’re so smart, huh?”

That was not the response Robbie had wanted, and his slumped shoulders showed it.

“Anything for me?”

“Oh yeah! _And_ I have to give you stuff!” Robbie cried as though forms for his father were somehow another insurmountable piece of work for his own to-do list.

“How about we do our homework at the table, then?” Glanni suggested.

Robbie huffed and started gathering his things. Glanni helped him move to the table and sort through the materials that had spilled from his backpack. It took a while…a long, exhausting while…but the man finally got his boy started on the work at hand. Not that it seemed to be _work_ from his own point of view, but practicing simple vocabulary words from the year prior, coloring a picture based on a key, and reviewing last year’s mathematical concepts certainly seemed to be an insurmountable task for little Robbie. If he were being honest with himself, sifting through all of the parental forms the school had sent home for him wasn’t much of a picnic for Glanni, either.

Once he was sure that the boy was into the swing of things, at least for the moment, Glanni got up to make Robbie’s dinner. That had been a mistake, apparently, as the aroma of food sent the child’s hunger into overdrive and Glanni was forced to relent his hold on the homework-comes-first rule to allow the poor boy to eat something before finishing. Glanni took their two-day-old pasta out of the refrigerator and picked at that instead.

“All done?” he finally asked a long time later when Robbie shoved the last piece of paper away from him with a disgusted huff.

“ _Finally_! Can I watch TV now? Please?”

Glanni nodded. “I think so. You did really well today, Sugar cookie. I’m proud of you.”

Robbie grinned brightly at hearing that.

Glanni lead the boy back to the couch, where he fished out the cable to connect his laptop to the television set. He pulled up their streaming service and let Robbie pick from the multitude of cartoons available to see. There were a few broken pixels on the television screen thanks to one too many bumps or short tumbles, but Robbie didn’t seem to mind. Glanni sat with him, the pair watching the colorful little creatures on screen together. Robbie snuggled against his dad, his little body finally relaxing after hours of stressful work.

In the end, Glanni felt a little bad that Robbie barely lasted more than an hour in front of the screen before he passed out for the night. After struggling so hard, the reward felt rather miniscule. Maybe Glanni just wanted more relaxation time for himself after _his_ day. Maybe a bit of both.

The man gathered up his son, little Robbie mumbling a little in his sleep as he was moved around, and carried the boy to his room. Robbie snuggled into his pillow the moment he was laid down, drawing a smile to Glanni’s face. He covered the boy’s shoulders and passed his fingers through Robbie’s soft raven hair.

“Good night, baby boy,” he whispered.

He planted a gentle kiss on the child’s forehead and left the room, turning off the light and quietly closing the door. He made sure the front door was locked, quietly cleaned what few dishes still sat in the sink, and turned off the electronics. As exhausted as he was, Glanni quickly made up a passable lunch for Robbie, organized the boy’s school papers to expedite the morning, and dragged himself into the bathroom for a quick shower.

He fell into bed a short time later. Body aching, hair still damp, and stomach not quite full. He pulled the blanket over his head and buried his face into his pillow to block out what little light his alarm clock projected into the room. It had been a long, exhausting day. Now all he had to do was get up and do it all again tomorrow.


	2. Kafli Tveir

The next day was a struggle. Glanni was—amazingly—able to haul himself out of bed on time, but Robbie was another story entirely. As the week stretched on, the little boy was harder and harder to rouse for the school he despised so much. Glanni hated seeing the child so miserable, but the most he could do was make sure that Robbie went to bed on time. His boy had always favored his naps, but the amount of sleep he suddenly seemed to need just felt ridiculous to the point that Glanni wondered if Robbie might be getting ready for a growth spurt soon.

“Pumpkin pie, wake up.”

Robbie groaned under the covers.

“Robbie, sweetie, you need to get up or you’re going to be late.”

Grey eyes peeked out from under the blanket. “ _Can_ I be late?” his tiny voice ventured.

Glanni sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, Gumdrop. You’re going to school.”

Robbie whined, but threw the blankets off and slowly melted from his bed onto the floor. Glanni stifled an amused snort at the child’s disenchanted display. Instead, he went to fetch a set of the boy’s clothes to try and move things along. He practically had to dress Robbie himself, the boy fighting him every step of the way.

Breakfast wasn’t much better. Robbie mostly just pushed his cereal around in his bowl, only occasionally taking a bite while the food grew soggy and inedible. Glanni tried not to snap about their precious food going to waste, though he did tell the boy multiple times to stop dragging his feet and eat up. Glanni, meanwhile, tried to choke down his usual coffee as a breakfast substitute.

“Come on, kiddo!” Glanni called moments later as he finished putting on his shoes. “We’re going to be late.”

Robbie groaned again and hopped off his chair, leaving his half-eaten breakfast behind. Glanni expedited the process of putting on shoes as best he could and ushered the boy out the door, leaving the leftover cereal and accompanying dishes for later. Maybe he would even have time to do it once _later_ actually rolled around.

The pair sped off toward the school, the old car sounding a little clunkier than normal. Hopefully the old hunk of junk would last long enough for Glanni to look into buying some much-needed replacement parts. Or, at least, something to jury-rig the zombie vehicle together for a few more hundred miles. Robbie didn’t look at Glanni the entire ride. The man couldn’t tell if it was due to still being sleepy, or just being in a foul mood.

“Lunch is gonna be cookies and bread dogs,” he offered, glancing over at the boy as they pulled into the school lot and he navigated through the drop-off traffic to get to the curb. “And some change for milk.”

“’Kay.”

Glanni nibbled his lower lip. “I thought you liked bread dogs.”

Robbie shrugged. “They taste better with buns.”

The man held in a sigh. Payday couldn’t come fast enough.

“I know, buddy, but all we have is bread right now. The important part still tastes good, though, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Everything okay, Robbie?”

The boy shrugged. “I don’t wanna go to school.”

“Why not?” Glanni asked as he put the car into Park. “It’s not that bad, right? You said your teacher was nice, and you got that sticker on your homework yesterday and everything. You seem like you’re doing great.”

He shrugged and hugged his backpack to his chest.

“Talk to me, buddy.”

Instead of adding to the conversation, Robbie unbuckled his seat belt and reached for the door handle. “Are you picking me up today?”

Glanni was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “Y-yeah.”

“Bye, Daddy. I love you,” Robbie said quickly as he scurried out of the car.

“Love you, too,” was all Glanni could say before the passenger door slammed closed.

He watched his son hurry up the walkway to the school entrance, ducking inside just in time for the bell to ring behind him. Glanni sat quietly for a moment, staring at that door. He didn’t like how evasive Robbie had been in their conversation, if one could even call it a conversation. Maybe all the sleep Robbie had been needing _wasn’t_ from an impending growth spurt. Glanni hoped it was. He furrowed his brow with worry and made a note to try and get little Robbie talking later. He was starting to get the feeling that his little boy not liking school wan’t just because of having to get up early and having homework in the evenings. And Glanni didn’t like it.

With a quick glance at the clock, Glanni heaved out a sigh and pulled away from the curb. If he didn’t leave now, he would be late for work, and he really didn’t want to have Haninn on his ass over nothing again. Maybe he would luck out and have a slow day. It _was_ Thursday, after all: not so busy as the weekend, but late enough in the week to have all the early partiers getting ready for their evenings of drunken stupidity. He parked in the mal lot and headed inside. After a quick visit to the locker room, Glanni made sure that he was clocked in and headed out to the floor to get his area ready before the store opened.

The pre-opening meeting was dull, filled with announcements about upcoming sales and inane announcements about sale goal competitions that were supposed to motivate employees, but instead made them all feel more like patronized children. Once adjourned, Glanni hurried off to his assigned register and waited for the onslaught of the people who always seemed to be waiting outside the building before opening. He wondered what else they did with their lives that they had the time and motivation to stand outside random retail stores on such a regular basis. Were new sheets or a designer umbrella really that important to have?

His shift that day wasn’t very long, just a couple of hours, but it still seemed to drag on forever. At least, it did until the last hour that he was there. Glanni was just finishing tidying up the display next to his register when a man came around the corner. The stranger glanced around, eyes scanning every sign in sight with a confused look on his face. Glanni originally only gave the customer a cursory glance, but did a double-take as the man grew closer.

The man was gorgeous. He wore a mustard-colored dress shirt with complimentary dark brown slacks and a very out-of-place pair of worn-out sneakers. It was the shirt that had caught Glanni’s eye initially. As ugly as the color was, especially when compared to the stranger’s head of beautifully fluffy blond hair, it was how the shirt fit the man’s frame that was so eye-catching. The mysterious shopper looked like he was _made_ of muscle, his shoulders and pecs alike just about ready to rip through that mustard atrocity at any moment. His muscles were so distracting that Glanni almost missed the man’s facial hair. Was that a pencil mustache? The dark hair on his face clashed with that on his head, but the goofy style somehow gave the mystery man some semblance of character. It was distinctive, if a little silly, and Glanni couldn’t help but give a small smirk at the man’s confidence to present himself in such a way.

Glanni just couldn’t help but stare at the stranger, at least for the few precious seconds before the stranger looked his way. He quickly looked away, realized that the action would probably be seen as trying to avoid another customer if Haninn happened to walk by again, and looked back up with a smile.

“Can I help you?”

The man approached him, turning something over in his hands as he did. It looked like a pair of socks. Glanni felt a little exposed under the customer’s gaze, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. He stood just a little taller to hide any outward signs of self-consciousness.

“Yes,” the man replied in a vaguely familiar accent. “Ah…where is the boys sports wear?”

Glanni gestured to a pair of escalators just barely in view from where they stood. “Upstairs,” he answered. “All men’s and boys’ athletic wear is upstairs. Take that and it should be on your right. Can’t miss it.”

The stranger followed where Glanni was pointing and smiled, nodding. “Thank you.”

He muttered a quick “you’re welcome” and offered another small smile before shrinking back toward his register. Where he belonged.

The customer, though, didn’t hurry off straight away like Glanni expected them to. No, instead he lingered for a moment, watching Glanni, fingers twitching like he wanted to say something. After a long few seconds, the man nodded again.

“Thank you for your help. I…hope you have a good day.”

Glanni dared to look up at the man again and nodded, offering his usual Retail Smile as the stranger headed toward the escalator. Glanni shamelessly looked after him, admiring the view while it lasted. How come all his customers couldn’t look like that? He did his best to commit this one to memory.

Glanni stood at his register barely five minutes more before logging out and heading to the locker room to retrieve his things. A quick trip to the bathroom and a uniform change later, and he was off again. The fast food restaurant where he worked his second job was only a few minutes’ drive away and, unlike chicken shit Haninn, the management there actually seemed to like the fact that Glanni worked for them. Not that the job was fun or paid well, but at least he could get discounted food, and tomes could be written about the benefits of having a boss who wasn’t a total asshole. He pulled into the nearest parking space and headed inside.

“Back for more?” teased the teen manning the front counter when he spotted Glanni walk through the door.

He shook his head and gave a small eye roll. “Good to see you too, Jives,” he replied.

Alright, so maybe a few of his coworkers were compatible levels of amiable as well. Another plus.

“You missed the rush.”

“I’ll have to Pablo for not scheduling me for it, then!” Glanni teased back as he clocked in at the empty register nearby and headed back to see where he was stationed for the first portion of his shift.

*****

His second job’s shift had been a good balance of quiet, yet steady. Unfortunately, a bus of vacationers had decided to pick their restaurant for a pit-stop, so the last thirty minutes of his shift had been obnoxiously hectic. The group wasn’t terrible, per say, but there were _enough_ of them to start hitting his buttons anyway. As much as he tried, Glanni couldn’t say he did well in demanding crowds, no matter how polite they tried to be.

Somewhere in the middle of the mess, he managed to sneak in making a couple of extra burgers, fries, and questionable handheld pies to take home for Robbie and himself. He squeezed past his bustling coworkers to quickly pay for his own meal without waiting in line himself before he clocked out. That done, he snatched up his food and hurried out to his car before one of the lobby’s ungrateful customers could flag him down to ask for more napkins or complain about a soda flavor that was running low.

Unfortunately, the bus chose that moment to reclaim its passengers and start its journey again. Glanni groaned as he waited for the gigantic vehicle to pass behind him so he could pull out of his spot, then later started swearing as he sat behind it while it waited for a large enough space to pull into traffic. Once freed, he sped as fast as he dared toward the school to pick up poor Robbie on time. The last thing the boy needed after such a rough morning was to have a tardy father. Thankfully, he pulled into line just as the children started filing out of the building. Glanni leaned back against the driver’s seat and sighed.

“Hey, Snickerdoodle,” he greeted when the boy pulled open the car door. “You have a good day?”

Robbie’s silence as he climbed into the passenger’s seat and reached for his seat belt said everything.

“That good, huh?”

Robbie shrugged and stared at where he’d set his backpack on the floor.

“You okay, kiddo?” Glanni asked, eyebrows knit together as he looked over the child’s miserable appearance.

Robbie shrugged.

“Hey, Robbie?” Glanni asked quietly. “Could you look at me?”

The boy looked up slowly, face downturned.

“What’s wrong, Sweetheart? Talk to me.”

The little boy shrugged again. “I…don’t want to talk about it.”

Glanni swallowed, reaching over and brushing a hand through Robbie’s hair in the hopes it would be of some comfort. He was thankful to feel the child lean into his touch, even if it was only just.

“Did something bad happen today?”

Robbie hunched his shoulders in another shrug. “Not…really?”

“Just sad?”

“I guess.”

Glanni was silent for a few moments, unsure how to interpret what little his boy was giving him to work with. He didn’t like the look on Robbie’s face. He didn’t like the boy’s slumped shoulders, either. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t his Robbie.

“Is it something that…wasn’t _just_ about today?” he ventured.

Robbie looked like he was about to shrug, but stopped. His eyes flickered down to the center console of the car instead. Glanni could feel a knot forming in his stomach.

“Is it your teacher?”

It took a few seconds, but Robbie shook his head. At least his teacher wasn’t picking on him. That had happened a bit in kindergarten until Glanni made a stink about his boy’s unfair treatment. The woman had been a stuck-up bitch anyway.

“Is it one of the other kids?”

Robbie didn’t move at all that time. Glanni tried to keep his tone steady and neutral when he spoke again.

“There aren’t any bullies in your class this year…are there?” he asked.

Robbie slowly seemed to be shrinking into his seat, and the farther he sank, the more the heavy knot in Glanni’s stomach twisted in a sickening fusion of sorrow and anger. He did his best to swallow it down, but the act just made him feel closer to choking on it instead.

“Robbie, are you being bullied?”

The child shifted in his seat. “N-no.”

“Jelly bean…”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Glanni frowned. He wanted—needed—to know more, but Robbie already looked so upset that he didn’t think he should push things right now. He wanted to know who the brats were that dared to upset his little boy. Robbie didn’t deserve to be bullied, not for anything. He was a sweet, curious child  who only wanted to make friends. He would make those little brats pay. They wouldn’t _know_ the meaning of the word ‘hurt’ until Glanni got his hands on them.

“Can we go home?”

Robbie’s small voice cut through Glanni’s rage-fueled train of thought. He realized just how hard he was gripping his steering wheel and let out a long breath, relaxing his hands. His fingers immediately felt a little cramped, but he refused to crack his joints to relieve it, should it cue Robbie in to his thought processes.

“Sure, kiddo. I hope you want Buggy Burgers for dinner because…well, we’ve got Buggy Burgers for dinner.”

Robbie gave a small smile and Glanni was, once again, thankful that the boy actually enjoyed the food he could bring home from work. He leaned over and gently ruffled the boy’s hair, ignoring how Robbie gave a soft whine in response and started to pat his hair down immediately after.

“You want some fries?”

Robbie looked up. His eyes filled with hope, the boy looked happier than he had all day. Glanni couldn’t help but smile to see it. The poor boy deserved a treat after dealing with so much bullshit.

“Really?” Robbie asked.

“Really!”

Glanni reached into the back seat for the fast food bag, rooted around in it for a moment, and pulled out a small cardboard sleeve filled with semi-soggy French fries.

“ _Voila_!” he said with a smile as he offered the food to Robbie.

“Thanks, Dadddy!” Robbie cried, grabbing the food and digging in immediately.

Glanni smiled at the boy. He patted Robbie’s shoulder and turned his attention back to the wheel. As his son enjoyed his appetizer, Glanni pulled out from the curb and headed for home.

*****

Robbie was a bit more compliant than usual when it came to doing homework that evening. Glanni wasn’t sure if it was because he only had a worksheet and a half to finish, or because he had gotten some food in his system before getting home. Either way, Glanni was grateful for the change from their usual rapport.

But, while Robbie seemed fine and dandy with his dinner and evening work, his father was feeling worse by the minute. It had been a long day, after all, despite the few highlights scattered throughout. And now he was really starting to feeling it. Glanni yawned and shook his head as he held his burger at their rickety table. Robbie gave him a curious look from where he was working on his own patty.

“You okay, Daddy?”

Glanni nodded. “Yeah. Sorry, Gummy worm. Just a little tired.”

“But it’s early!”

“When you’re an old man like me, you get tired early,” Glanni countered.

Robbie made a face. “You don’t even have white hair yet! You’re old but you’re not _super_ old!”

He snorted in amusement. “Well, thank you,” he chuckled. “You want an apple pie for dessert?”

Robbie’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah! Can I?”

Glanni reached back into the bag and fished out the pies, setting them out on the table.

“One for you, one for me. Sound fair?”

“If you fall asleep can I have both?” Robbie asked as he reached for the nearer of the two.

“Deal.”

The pair finished off their dinners in relative silence, save for the happy noises Robbie made as he chewed his pie. Not that Glanni would ever call the pastry-like things actual pies in any other context, but at least it made the kid happy.

“Can we watch TV?”

“Sure, what do you want to watch?”

Robbie shrugged as he watched his father go set up their laptop to go through the television again.

“A documentary on the economic downturn of the United States in post-war climates?” Glanni suggested.

Robbie’s face scrunched up into a wrinkled mess of disgust. Glanni laughed at the sight.

“You’d better pick something before I do, then!”

“Okay!” Robbie yelped in instant panic.

The child hopped down from his chair and raced across the room to see what selection their streaming service had. As Glanni predicted, Robbie picked the same program they had been working through a few days earlier. The pair settled down on the man’s bed and watched the cartoon characters gallivant across the screen.

“Daddy?”

“Hmm?”

There was a brief pause before Robbie spoke. “Is it bad if a boy likes girl stuff?”

Glanni frowned, looking down at his little boy nestled in his lap. “No, of course not! Why would you think that, Pixie stick?”

Robbie shrugged as he watched the girls on the television enjoying their day at summer camp.

“Did someone tell you boys can’t like girl things?”

“M-maybe.”

“Well, then they’re stupid and don’t know anything. Boys can like whatever they want to, and so can girls. I like girl things, right?”

Robbie was quiet for a few seconds. “I…guess so.”

“And I’m a boy, too, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t ever let other people tell you if you can like something or not, okay, Snickerdoodle? Not even me.”

“Not even _you_?” Robbie asked, looking up at his father in surprise.

“Not even me.”

The boy seemed to consider this, looking a little shocked at the revelation that not even his father could dictate what he did and didn’t like.

“Then…” Robbie said hesitantly. “…I think I like some girl things, too.”

Glanni smiled and leaned over, planting a proud kiss atop little Robbie’s head.

“I’m proud of you, Sweetie.”

“You are?” Robbie looked up curiously.

“I _always_ am.”

Robbie smiled and looked back to the television, snuggling against his dad. Glanni gently petted the boy’s hair as he held him close. The pair resumed their television viewing. At some point, the screen darkened, displaying a message asking if they would like to continue to the next episode in the show. By that time, there was no one left awake to respond; Robbie was too busy sucking his thumb and snuggling into his father’s chest. Glanni lightly snored at his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More updates [for just about everything] coming shortly.
> 
> I'm also attempting to branch out into other fandoms, so give my other new bs a try and let me know what you think of it. /shameless self-plug


	3. Kafli Þrír

“Wake up, Cupcake,” Glanni said as soothingly as his hoarse voice could get.

“Noooo,” the child moaned as he buried his face into Glanni’s pillow.

“We’ve gotta get up,” he yawned, sitting up.

“No we dooon’t.”

“We do,” Glanni insisted, though the declaration still ended in a yawn anyway.

Robbie groaned pathetically and made no move to get up. Glanni temporarily ignored the boy and went to get coffee and cereal ready. That set, he disappeared into the bathroom to finish his morning routine: shaving, the fastest shower on the planet—for both time and economic purposes—and getting dressed. Robbie still wasn’t out of bed by the time he emerged.

“Robbie, come on. Wakey wakey, Sleeping Beauty!”

The boy curled into a tight ball. Glanni groaned and walked over, pulling the blanket off the bed entirely. Robbie gave a whine of protest.

“Come on, buddy. You have to get dressed and get something in that belly of yours.”

Robbie, finally, gave in with the thought of food. He wandered over to the table and plopped down to eat while his father drank another cup of terrible coffee that made him shudder with every sip. It wasn’t long before Robbie wandered off to get dressed, though Glanni did have to help things along by getting the boy’s school things together in the meantime.

Glanni glanced over at his bedside clock as he waited for the boy to finish things up. His eyes widened at the sight.

“Robbie! Hurry up!” he shouted, making a dash to their show corner by the door. “We’re late!”

The boy didn’t seem nearly as upset by the clock’s report as his father was. Robbie toddled out of his room, still weary-eyed and dragging his feet.

“ _Robbie_ ,” Glanni groaned, hurrying over to the boy carrying his shoes. “Come on, we’re already late. Come on.”

While the boy plopped down on the floor and started putting his shoes on, Glanni shot back to the kitchen. He pulled out some snack packs, whipped together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and threw some change into a paper bag. He rushed back to the boy and shoved the quick lunch into his son’s backpack on their way out the door.

“ _Fl_ _ýtir, fl_ _ýtir_ ,” he encouraged, all but shoving Robbie toward the car.

“I don’t know what that means,” Robbie mumbled.

“It means move your butt, kiddo. We’ve gotta go.”

The pair piled into the car, Robbie slumping against the door in an attempt to get a little more sleep while he still could. Glanni stuck his keys in the ignition and turned. There was a soft, grinding chug for a moment, but no engine turnover.

“Shit,” Glanni hissed.

Robbie looked up, eyes big. He snickered, familiar with words that were only for grownups.

“Shit shit _shit_ —” Glanni hissed, trying again. And again. “Fuck!”

Robbie giggled and covered his mouth.

“Don’t say those words,” Glanni quickly added before trying the key again.

The old car made a new round of grinding churns and, at long last, turned over. The man let out a sigh of relief, practically falling over the wheel as he did so.

“Aren’t we late, Daddy?” Robbie asked curiously.

“ _Ahh_! Yes!”

Glanni shot up and shook his head. Yes, the time! The clock! He quickly put the car into gear and pulled out of the makeshift parking lot, speeding toward the school. At least, he started to. A quick glance at the speedometer and the car immediately slowed. He wasn’t about to risk being spotted by a police officer just because he was trying to get his boy to school on time. The risk simply wasn’t worth the act.

They pulled up to the ominously empty curb outside the school and Glanni hopped out, scurrying around the side of the car to Robbie’s door, much to the boy’s surprise. He took the boy’s hand, gentle but firm, and lead Robbie up to the front doors. The morning announcements were already being read over the building PA system, so at least there was a little bit of time left before classes officially started for the day. After an apology and a quick chat with the main office receptionist, Robbie was escorted to his classroom with just enough time for the boy to be on time for the beginning of his first subject. Glanni sighed and headed back to his car, reaching for his cell phone…only to find nothing.

“This _fucking_ day,” he grumbled to himself, unclenching his fists to open the car door. “So much for calling ahead. Jesus, goddamn— _Arrgh_!”

Glanni yanked the door open and sat inside. He slammed the door behind him and, trying to calm himself so he wouldn’t snap it in half doing so, put the key back in the ignition. He held his breath and turned. Grind. Grind. Turnover.

“Thank fuck,” he breathed. “At least _something_ decided to go right this morning.”

With a quick glance for traffic, Glanni sped out from the curb as fast as he dared and headed to work. Thank God they had scheduled him an hour later than usual. At the time he had been thoroughly annoyed with the schedule, but now he was seeing it as a Godsend. At least things weren’t as bad as they could have been.

*****

Glanni miraculously managed to be on time for work. He had had just enough to breath a heavy sigh of relief before the Friday crowds started to roll in. But, thankfully, things didn’t start to get terribly busy until the tail end of his shift, so he had time to fix up his department _without_ getting yelled at before the weekend madness began. At least Haninn couldn’t accuse him of slacking off and leaving his area a mess when his time was up. Though, judging by the stout man’s scowl every time he passed anywhere near Glanni’s register that day, the man certainly wanted to accuse him of _something_. Glanni just offered him a Retail Smile and extended a middle finger out of sight under the register counter.

“Don’t forget to check the schedule before you leave,” his relief said as she walked up to his register as he prepared to leave. “They switched everything around again last night. It was all screwy when I looked at it coming in.”

Glanni rolled his eyes as he clocked out and stepped aside for the young woman to take his place. “Of course they did. And I doubt they called anyone about it either.”

“Nope. That’d make too much sense,” the girl replied with a playful smirk.

Glanni flashed a smile. He liked this girl. Too bad he didn’t know her name. His eyes flickered down to her nametag. Solla. Good to know.

“Good luck with the crowd,” he bade before heading back toward the locker room.

“See you later. Have a good day!”

Glanni headed upstairs and into the back room. He tossed his nametag into his locker and collected his things. He was free for the day, at least until the school let out, but Glanni would have preferred to head to his second job instead. He hadn’t been given too many shifts there lately, but the drop in manpower now that half the staff were back in school meant that his hours should be picking up again soon. The extra cash would be nice. He locked things up and headed back out into the hallway to check the posted schedule.

“Oh, come _on_.”

His shoulders fell as he looked over the complex mess of names, dates, and timestamps. His name stuck out like a sore thumb. _Glanni Stef_ _ánson_ …no following entries. He stared at the long, blank line of nothingness.

“Son of a bitch,” he hissed under his breath. “Son of a _bitch_.” Glanni resisted the urge to kick the godforsaken wall the schedule was pinned to. “They took my hours!”

Everything he had been scheduled for was cancelled. Every shift for at least the next week, if not longer. It had to be Haninn. Who else would screw him over so badly? Everyone else had at least _some_ hours on the board. Well, mostly everyone. He wondered how many of the other blank-liners were students, though, not single parents working two jobs just to try and make ends meet.

Glanni bit his tongue as he stormed out of the back offices and across the floor. Expletives danced around in his head like pissy sugarplums, but he held it inside. At least, until he got to his car. He let loose, screaming and all but punching the steering wheel as he vented his frustrations at the schedule change he knew he could do nothing about. He needed that money. His _boy_ needed that money. Glanni let his forehead rest on the wheel and shut his eyes. What was he going to do without an entire week’s pay?

“Maybe Pablo will let me grab more hours,” he mumbled to himself, trying to grasp onto any bit of hope he could find. “Shit.”

He raised his head and gazed across the parking lot at the crowd wandering in and out of the mall. Well, if nothing else, he had a whole week of extra time to come up with some sort of idea now as to what he could do. Yeah…that was trying to be positive, right? Glanni shook his head and tried to start the car up to head home. His head met the steering wheel again when all the vehicle did was groan at him.

*****

Home again after half an hour of trying to get his piece of junk car to obey him, Glanni’s woeful mood grew even worse. It was payday. For most, a day of celebration and relaxation. For Glanni, it was the day in which he got to watch all his hard-earned wages slip immediately through his fingers into the abyss. He sat at his sad, plastic kitchen table with papers spread out before him. Bills.

“Rent’s good,” he mumbled as he worked. “Electric…good. No more falling asleep in front of the damn TV.” He brushed a hand through his too-greasy-for-his-liking hair as he worked. “Gas, good. Groceries…done, finally. What else?”

He sifted through the remaining papers, scanning their contents for anything he might be missing. He was just about finished when he paused, eyes widening slightly. He swore and quickly looked over at his expenses tally on a scrap piece of paper nearby. Glanni set the bill down and grabbed for his pen to work out some calculations to check his work, hoping he was wrong.

No such luck.

“Christ on a popsicle stick,” he groaned, head now in his hands. “This day hates me. It fucking hates me.” He shrugged. “What else could it be?”

He was short. And his phone bill couldn’t be paid. Glanni had the smallest plan he could find with a reliable network, he had an old flip phone, no data…how on earth could he not pay this bill? He had been so careful grocery shopping, getting only the bare minimum for himself and barely above that for Robbie, and yet here he was. He needed his phone. It was a lifeline if there was trouble, if Robbie’s school needed to get ahold of him, if his bosses needed to call him…he needed the goddamn thing. He couldn’t just go without, and it was too late to cancel something else or move things around…everything else was already done and paid for.

A few years ago this wouldn’t be a problem, not even close. All he had to do was make a phone call or two if he needed some money, find someone looking for help with a job…no. No, he couldn’t go down that path right now. No dwelling on the past. Or how easy it had all felt so much of the time. Or about how many suckers were out there just waiting for— _no_!

Glanni closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “It’s not so bad,” he whispered to the apartment. “It’s not much. You can get it. It’s not due until Monday. You can do this. You just need to find something you can get money from.”

He opened his eyes and looked around the apartment. The most valuable thing in sight was his laptop, and even that wasn’t in very good shape after the least few years. He might need to get creative.

Glanni got up and went over to his plastic dresser set. He pulled open the bottom bin where he stored his non-clothes items. There had to be something in here that might help. He pulled out a few miscellaneous parts and other just-in-case items, a few old heirlooms, and…his old clock. Glanni turned the old thing over. It wasn’t anything too fancy, bit it _was_ pretty. He only used his digital alarm clock so he could abuse the thing without fear of breaking anything delicate, unlike the one he now held in his hands. The thing couldn’t be worth _too_ much, but maybe someone interested in old shit that looked pretty might want it. It might work. He moved onto the next item in the bin. He pulled out the old broach, unsure how he felt about it. Jesus it was gaudy…but it was colorful. That was probably why he had it in the first place; he was a sucker for pretty colors. The two items together…maybe this could work.

The man got up and emitted a soft groan as his back cracked and ached with the motion. He grabbed his shoes, shoved the two items into one of the yet-to-be-thrown-out grocery bags he had left on the kitchen counter, and headed out again. This time he would walk; why push his luck trying to get that damn car to start when he didn’t need to? Besides, gas was expensive.

The pawn shop was almost a fifty-minute walk away from the apartment. Glanni stood outside for another five before working up the courage to walk inside and up to the counter. Even then, he felt uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure if the staff had changed since last he was here, but he certainly hoped so. Trying not to look at any of the merchandise that surrounded him, Glanni delicately rang the bell to call an attendant out from the back room.

“Hi, how can I— _ah_ , Glanni!”

He winced, but forced a smile to appear on his face. “Hey, Smokey. How are ya?”

“Could be better, could be worse,” the tall man said with a shrug. “What’ve you been up to? You practically dropped off the face of the earth. Everyone thought they finally got you for good. Or, you know, you were dead.”

Glanni shrugged, trying his damnedest to keep that nonchalant smile on his face. “Can’t keep a good man down, ya know?” he painfully laughed.

“Damn straight!” The man peered over the counter. “You got something for me?”

“Uh…kind of. Nothing big, but I’d like you to take a look if you could.”

Smokey laughed at that. “Sure, sure! Just like old times, eh?”

“Yeah…sort of,” Glanni mumbled as he set the bag down on the counter.

The man opposite from him rubbed his hands together. “Alright!” he said as he started at the bag. “Let’s see what we ha…is this a joke?”

Glanni swallowed and gave a meek shrug. He kept his eyes on the other man, if only to avoid showing more weakness than was probably already apparent. “Been slow lately. Cleaning out the closets. Might as well wee what I can get.” It wasn’t a total lie.

Smokey picked up the clock, turning it over with a bewildered look on his face that made Glanni feel mildly nauseated from worry. He picked up the broach, too, and hummed thoughtfully.

“I hate to break it to you, Glanni, but this ain’t much more than junk.”

He did his best to look unphased, though he did allow himself the luxury of a slight frown at the news. “Shit. Figured as much,” he said, another half truth. “How many pennies, then?”

The man shrugged, looking the items over again. “Normally I’d just send you home with ‘em,” Smokey admitted. “But for _you_ …let’s see. Maybe…thirty for them both?”

“Thirty?” Glanni was pretty sure his heart just sank into his gut.

“That’s bein’ generous, Glanni. I shouldn’t be taking these at all.”

Glanni huffed, slowly trying to slip back into his old shoes as the conversation went on. “That’s all you can do?” he accused. “I could talk some poor sap into buying that broach alone for fifty. Maybe more if they’re stupid enough to think those things are real. Please, Smokes, work with me.”

The man looked hesitant, even as Glanni leaned on the counter. He looked down at the items and hummed in thought for a moment.

“Forty.”

“Seventy.”

A groan. “F-fifty.”

“Seventy.”

“I’m gonna get in trouble as it is, Glanni. Fifty-five and that’s all.”

He frowned. “Sixty-five, then.”

The man gave him a look and sighed, but Glanni quickly cut him off, suddenly finding the strength that he had been so forcibly keeping down for too long.

“I pulled your ass out of the fire _how_ many times over the years?” Glanni asked sharply. “Seriously, you and your buddies were magnets for trouble, but did I ever hang you out to dry?” Seeing the flash of guilt in the other man’s eyes, he decided to supply the answer himself. “ _No_. No, I didn’t. And now here I am, asking for the _smallest_ favor imaginable, and you won’t part with a measly sixty-five dollars for your old friend?”

“Glanni, please—”

“Don’t _please_ me _Smokey_. I only wish I’d seen how much our partnership actually meant to you earlier.” Glanni reached for the clock. “I’ll just take these pieces elsewhere, find someone who can appreciate—”

“Sixty, then. That’s as high as I can go.”

Glanni snapped his fingers and pointed at the man. “Deal. Get the paperwork.”

Smokey gave a heavy sigh and turned away to get the necessary papers from the backroom. Glanni, meanwhile, allowed himself to deflate. He swallowed, staring at the apparent pieces of junk left on the counter as though they had betrayed him personally. Sixty dollars, then. Every little bit helps anyway. It should be just enough to cover what was left of the phone bill, and leave a little left over for gas money, just in case. His smile quickly returned as his old accomplice walked back into the room.

His former colleague worked on the paperwork for the transaction quietly. Glanni wasn’t sure what to say to break the silence; he was still too preoccupied with turning numbers over in his head, checking and double-checking his math. After a few minutes, he was asked to sign his name, and did so without question. Smokey raised an eyebrow.

“New alias?” he asked.

“Huh?”

Smokey gestured to the paper. “Kind of surprised you’re using your first name, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Damnit. He didn’t think about coming up with a name. His signature had been automatic. “Well, you know…sometimes it’s fun to hide in plain sight. Throws ‘em off if you pepper in some truth now and again.”

“Fair enough. That’s why you always come out on top, friend!” the man laughed as he handed his old partner the cash for their transaction, all stress draining from the room now. “It was nice seein’ you again. Really. Sorry I couldn’t give you more.”

“You did what you could. No big deal.”

Well, that was a blatant lie. It _was_ a big deal. A very _big_ deal, at least to him.

“I’ll let the rest of the gang know you said hi.”

Glanni cringed. “Uh…yeah. Just passing through, though, so it might be a while before I see ya again.”

The man behind the counter shrugged. “Fair enough. I was thinkin’ about heading out soon myself, actually. No roots, right?”

Glanni bit the inside of his cheek hearing one of his old mantras echoed back to him like that. He nodded, outwardly smiling. “No roots,” he affirmed. “See you around, Smokes.”

He couldn’t get outside fast enough. Glanni nearly jogged— _jogged, for heaven’s sake!_ —down the sidewalk, his hand firmly on the wad of cash in his pocket as he went. He didn’t slow down until he was a block and a half away from the building. There, he let out a long, tired breath and finally allowed himself to return to a normal pace.

It was a long fifty minutes to get home; too much turmoil was swirling in his head now, too many mixed emotions. He had known that someone from his old _mischievous_ gang might still be working at that pawn shop, but he’d needed the cash. In the moment, it had been worth the risk of running into him for the money he received, but now...he wasn’t as sure as he had been when he walked in.

“No roots.”

It had been one of the cornerstones of his life for so long. Hopping from place to place, making and breaking partnerships, adopting and shedding identities like clothing. Now look at him. An actual apartment, not one but two legitimate jobs, _bills to pay_. It was all so…ordinary. Boring, even. Glanni did miss his old life, the freedom he had squandered. And yet, despite how arduous and, frankly, _dull_ , his life had become over the last few years, all he had to do was picture Robbie’s smiling face and he suddenly didn’t seem to mind the rest of it so much. He never wanted Robbie to grow up in his old world; it would have ruined him. No, Robbie deserved a better chance at life than what Old Glanni could have given him. Robbie had become his roots, and he was fine with that.

Glanni ran the numbers through his head again, rechecking what he had already checked thoroughly while standing there waiting for Smokey to finish their transaction. Yes, he had enough to cover things now, but just barely. Maybe he would have to give Stína a call to see if there was anything he could… _do_ for her to get a little more cash in-pocket in case Robbie needed something or an emergency came up. Some rainy day money. He hoped she was still interested. Old Glanni’s life and habits couldn’t do much to help Current Glanni overall, but every once in a while, his old life found a way to offer a helping hand.

*****

Glanni had ended up jogging the last block or two home as well, much to his lungs’ chagrin. Time just seemed to keep getting away from him tday. He hopped in the car, tried to start it and…oh thank heavens. The man visibly relaxed when the engine roared to life for him, and he quickly backed out of his space and into the street to pick up Robbie from school on time.

Not long after, the little boy was climbing into Glanni’s car to be taken home. To Glanni’s dismay, his little boy still looked absolutely miserable. The twinge in Glanni’s chest returned.

“Hey, Pudding cup.”

“Hi.”

“Learn anything fun today?”

Robbie shook his head.

“Learn anything stinky today?”

Robbie shrugged.

“Learn _anything at all_ today?” Glanni probed, unsure how else to lighten the mood or make the child feel better about the classes he seemed to hate so much.

Robbie looked up with him with an unamused scowl.

“Come on, kiddo. What happened? Talk to me.”

The boy shrugged and fiddled with one of his backpack straps in his lap. “Nothing.”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing. You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Talking about things was good, right? Getting it all out in the open so it wouldn’t fester? He knew pushing probably wouldn’t help—he always hated being pushed himself, but Glanni just didn’t know what else to do when he felt so helpless and his little Robbie was clearly hurting inside.

“I don’t like recess.”

Okay, he hadn’t expected that, but whatever. Glanni carefully pulled from the curb to head for home.

“No?”

Robbie shook his head. “It’s stupid.”

“What happens at recess?”

Robbie took a few seconds to answer. “I stay inside and read.”

Ah, that. Robbie loved stories, but he wasn’t the strongest when it came to reading, though not from lack of trying. Glanni knew from watching him that Robbie’s idea of ‘reading’ was to leaf through picture books and come up with his own ideas for a plot based on the artwork itself. Glanni loved how creative the child was, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before the behavior caught up to him. Still, Glanni wasn’t quite sure how to address the problem yet.

“That’s cool,” was all Glanni could come up with in the moment. “What else?”

Robbie thought a moment. “I dunno.” He glanced out the window at the passing scenery. After a while he added “The new kid is annoying and weird.”

Glanni gave the boy a quick glance before refocusing on the road ahead. Oh, how he hoped this _new kid_ hadn’t joined Robbie’s class just to torment him all year. “Oh?”

“He talks funny. And he gets in trouble a lot.”

Oh no.

“Really?” Glanni asked carefully. “What’s he do to get in trouble?”

“He doesn’t like to sit still and it makes Mrs. Pestella mad.”

Oh. Well, that didn’t sound too bad. Just another jittery kid.

“Sounds like he probably likes recess enough for the both of you,” Glanni laughed.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see a surprisingly enthusiastic nod from his son.

“So did he get in trouble today?” he asked next, glad that Robbie was talking about what happened at school in any capacity. He wasn’t about to let the conversation fizzle out while the boy was still willing to answer questions and offer up information.

Robbie nodded. “Yeah. He did a somersault getting in line for lunch. And for music class.”

Okay, yeah, this kid sounded freaking weird.

“He keeps bugging me about my lunch,” the boy continued as he scrunched up his face at the memories. “And he tries to bug me at recess, too.”

“What does he say?”

“He’s stupid. He’s always surprised when I have good stuff for lunch! Just ‘cause he never gets cookies and stuff in his. He’s annoying.”

“He probably just jealous and wishes his parents were as cool as your dad,” Glanni teased.

Robbie shrugged and Glanni tried to ignore the gesture. “He’s weird. He keeps saying cookies at lunch isn’t good.”

Mutant child. Who’s selling them such propaganda?

“I think you’re right—he _is_ weird.”

Robbie nodded.

“He do anything else weird today?” Glanni asked. “What’s everyone else think of him?”

Robbie shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t care. I don’t like going out for recess.”

“Why not?” Glanni asked, never having gotten an answer to that particular mystery.

“The other kids don’t like me. They never wanna play what I wanna play.” He hugged his backpack to his chest. “Mrs. Pestella made me go out anyway today.” He swallowed. “…it hurt.”

Glanni frowned, sparing the boy as much of a glance as he could as he drove toward their home.

“What do you mean? Did you hurt yourself?” he asked.

Robbie was silent. Glanni didn’t like it at all.

“Robbie,” he said slowly. “Did someone _else_ hurt you?”

The boy looked down at the floor and continued to hold his bag tightly to his chest. Glanni gripped the steering wheel as tightly as he dared as they turned into the house’s little gravel lot. He put the vehicle in park, turned off the engine, and turned his full attention to his child.

“Robbie?”

The boy kept his face down and Glanni felt like he was going to throw up…then punch something.

“Lollipop, can you look at me, please?” he asked, each word annunciated as carefully as possible so he wouldn’t sound like he was angry at the poor little boy.

“I don’t wanna talk about it!” Robbie quickly mumbled before abruptly reaching for the car door handle.

The boy unbuckled himself and dashed out of the car, heading toward the house’s cellar door. Glanni sighed, taking his time to pick up his son’s abandoned backpack, get out himself, and lock the car. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves and walked back to their apartment. Robbie had his back to him, sitting on the bottom step and staring at the corner of their still-closed front door.

“Gummy bear,” Glanni said quietly as he walked down the steps and joined the boy sitting at the bottom. “Can you talk to me? Please?”

Robbie sniffled and Glanni wrapped an arm around the boy’s middle. He pulled his son close and gave Robbie a gentle kiss atop his head. To Glanni’s relief, the child turned toward him and leaned into his embrace. Robbie buried his face into his father’s chest and Glanni engulfed the little boy in a warm, tight hug. His chest constricted as he felt the boy shudder at regular intervals, his little shoulders bouncing as he cried. Glanni gently rubbed the boy’s back and began instinctively to gently rock back and forth in an attempt to sooth the poor, hurting child.

The pair sat there for some time, holding one another in relative silence, save for sniffles and whimpers from Robbie and soothing whispers and hums from Glanni. The man squeezed his son gently after Robbie started to calm down again. He leaned over to give the little boy a kiss upon his temple. Robbie continued to hold onto his father like he used to as a toddler during thunder storms. Glanni swallowed the conflicted ball of emotion in his throat.

“Little better?” Glanni asked just above a whisper.

He felt Robbie nod against his chest and Glanni gave the boy’s frame another gentle squeeze.

“Have you told your teacher about any of this?”

“N-no.”

“Why not?”

Robbie shrugged.

“I can go in and talk to her. We can take the stupid brats aside and we can—”

“Don’t,” Robbie whined softly.

Glanni tried to hold his tongue while he held his boy, but couldn’t do so for very long.

“Can you tell me who’s making you feel like this?”

Robbie shook his head vigorously and pressed against his dad, as if to hide.

“Okay, okay.” He rubbed his child’s back gently, his mind reeling as he tried to figure out how to fix things and take the pain away. “Why can’t I know?”

It took Robbie a minute to formulate an answer. “It’ll get worse,” he whispered.

Okay, that was it. Glanni grit his teeth and tried to breathe through his nose. Someone was tormenting his little boy and he wanted them to pay for it. He _needed_ them to pay for it. If he could just find out who little brats were behind his Robbie’s tears he would go down to that school himself and make them pay. And then he would take that dumbass teacher aside to find out why things had gone on as long as they had, and then—”

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Sugar cookie?”

“Are you ma-um…maybe…are you mad at me?”

Glanni shivered at the thought. “Of course not, Robbie. I could never be mad at you. There’s no _reason_ to be mad at you. Why would you think I’d be mad?”

Robbie shrugged slightly. “You’re mad at something.”

“I’m mad at those stupid bullies. If I could just _talk_ to them…”

“No…please, Daddy?”

Glanni’s heart twisted, but he nodded. “…Okay,” he whispered to his boy, giving Robbie a gentle kiss to the scalp. “For you, kiddo.” God, it physically hurt to promise that. “I…I won’t try to talk to them.” Or murder them in front of one other.

“I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, Gumball.”

“Can we go inside now?”

“Yeah. Good idea.”

Glanni hugged the boy once more before getting to his feet. Robbie stayed close to his side as his father dug out the apartment key and let them both inside. The boy wandered in, Glanni close behind with his backpack.

“What do you say we relax for a bit before homework today?”

Robbie nodded, looking up at the man with thankful eyes.

“Go find a good game to play, then, kiddo. I’ll try to scrounge up some dinner. Deal?”

“Deal!”

Glanni set Robbie’s backpack at their table and went to the refrigerator. As usual, there wasn’t much to choose from, but at least there would be enough for some sort of pasta-laden concoction. He pulled out a few things, set them on the counter, and grabbed a box of ziti from the cabinet nearby. Around the time he had set up a pot of water and readied it to boil, little Robbie came trotting out from his bedroom carrying a box.

“Whatcha got there, Sugar cookie?” Glanni asked over his shoulder as he grated the block of cheese now in his hands.

“The tower game!”

He should have known. Robbie loved Jenga. And, admittedly, Glanni was rather fond of it too. And, he suspected it was for the same reasons. Something about competitive puzzle solving mixed with utter destruction just felt _satisfying_. He gestured for Robbie to start setting up the game at the table and continued working on dinner.

“Daddy, come play with me!” the boy begged once he had all the blocks set up and his school things thoroughly abandoned to the floor.

Glanni decided that he could spare some time while the pasta boiled.

“Okay, okay. You do the first block.”

“I _did_ already!”

Glanni rolled his eyes and smiled. “So impatient,” he teased, turning around and leaning over to inspect the tower. Glanni chose a block and edged it out of the stack, flashing his boy a triumphant smile before going back to work on dinner.

“Okay, my turn!” Robbie cried, leaning over the table to search for his next wooden victim.

Back and forth they played, completing two games before dinner was ready and the table needed to be cleared. Even halfway through the meal, Robbie was still going on about his victory over his father in the second game, recounting the hardships of finding the perfect blocks and narrowly releasing them from the rickety tower’s grasp. From Glanni’s reactions to the tale, one would never guess that he had been the same room during the saga, much less the opposing party at the time.

Glanni was proud of his boy; Robbie’s motor skills were top notch and his problem-solving skills in special puzzles were excellent. He hoped it wasn’t just a fluke of young age and that Robbie would continue to build upon his skill in coming years. If he was as good in the future as Glanni imagined, he could easily see his baby boy becoming a mechanic in the future. Maybe even a full-on engineer if they could get math and reading sorting out first. Robbie had a lot of potential, and his father couldn’t help but let his mind wander now and again and think of all the possibilities that lay ahead for the boy. All the ways he could succeed in life…escape all the pitfalls that dotted his own past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far, Smokey is the only character not given a name in LT-canon. I had to give the poor guy some sort of name so I could stick him in. If you can guess who he is...I dunno, you win a cyber cookie or something.


End file.
